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Martin Luther King Jr: “I Have a Dream”

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Perhaps the most famous and beloved speech in modern American history, the "I Have a Dream" speech eloquently expressed the goals of the civil rights movement. Civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) delivered the speech during the March on Washington, on Aug. 28, 1963, in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Opening with a recollection of the promise of equality provided by the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, King declared, "we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check…[for] the riches of freedom and the security of justice." He then emphasized "the fierce urgency of Now" - the need to press for immediate, transformative change. In the most iconic words of the speech, King declared, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today!" The speech met with great praise at the time and has only increased in stature in the decades since, as King's call to "let freedom ring" still resonates. The "I Have a Dream" speech has been translated to Persian by Tavaana.